Waste Site Cleanup & Reuse in New England
Riverfront Park - Tilton, NH
(April 2006)
Program: State
Assessment
Grantee: New
Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (contacts)
Summary: A two-acre contaminated site, the
location of the former Pillsbury Mill, was cleaned up and is being
redeveloped into a river-front park with attractions for the public.
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A hundred years ago, the huge bell in the mill tower at Pillsbury Mills in Tilton, NH, would regulate the daily lives of the mill employees, many of them girls just 12 years old. The bell would ring to get them up in the morning, start their day, take lunch, and go home after ten to twelve noisome hours laboring in the mills.
Now, the old bell remains, but the mill and its demanding routine are gone. It now presides over kids playing ball, having picnics with their families, or just plain goofing off at the new Tilton Riverfront Park.
The former Pillsbury Mill site is being redeveloped into the Tilton Riverfront Park. In 2002, the NH DES conducted brownfields site assessment work using EPA funds. That assessment pointed out the need for soil removal, and in 2004, EPA provided funds for the cleanup of the former mill site. Contaminated soil has been removed from the site.
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The Tilton Riverfront Park Committee spearheaded the effort to create this riverfront park on the site of the former mill building. The committee also actively pursued fundraising for the design and construction costs for the park.
Final construction is scheduled for the Spring of 2006. When completed, the park will provide access and recreational opportunities along the Winnipesaukee River including, walkways, fishing piers, and a bell tower pavilion for the old Pillsbury Mill bell.
Timeline:
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2002: Tilton Riverfront Park Committee was formed.
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October 2004: EPA / NHDES Press Conference
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2004: EPA does the cleanup; estimated clean-up costs $348,000.
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2005: Construction begins.
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Spring of 2006: Completion scheduled.